There are many examples of Serial to Ethernet conversion. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,881,096 (Lantronix, Inc.) titled “Compact serial-to-ethernet conversion port”, describes the method by which Serial data signals may be converted to Ethernet, and vice versa. By way of U.S. Patent 20090196621 A1, titled “Fiber-optic to USB Ethernet converter”, which aims to describe high-speed data conversion from USB data signals to Ethernet data signals.
Many systems exist in the retail, industrial, and scientific field, which utilize the Serial interface as their primary method of communication between devices. A good example of this is in the retail market, where nearly all businesses utilize barcode readers, which scan the barcode on the product and transmit them to the computer system used by the business. The technology in this patent would enable store owners to monitor the data passing through the barcode reader, and even send barcode data to other computer systems when there is no physical barcode reader connected. Considering that sensitive information, such as credit-card numbers, are not transmitted over these interfaces, it provides a safe method of collecting analytic data without risking the privacy of the user.
Many systems transmit and receive information via the Serial interface known as RS-232. RS-232, RS-485, etc . . . are the primary protocols that this patent aims to convert to other protocols, but is not limited to these protocol.